Just like a good conspiracy theory, true or not, it’s hard to resist the intrigue of a good fan theory… and this latest one might have some legs.
We’re four episodes in and by all measures, Dutton Ranch is a certified hit. It might come as a bit of a surprise, especially after Yellowstone came to sort of an abrupt halt without its main star, Kevin Costner, but Dutton Ranch has been a slam dunk. After Marshals, which is a network television procedural not written by Taylor Sheridan (just a completely different animal), came out of the gate with rough reviews, I think fans were expecting the same from Dutton Ranch, but it’s been quite the opposite.
After reading the Reddit threads, reading the social media commentary, even reading the critics on Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB and the entertainment blogs, and even watching myself, Dutton Ranch is right back in the Yellowstone wheelhouse. Although Taylor didn’t write this first season himself either, the show feels like a continuation of Yellowstone in the best possible way. It came out of the gate with nearly 13 million viewers, the largest launch by a Paramount+ show ever, some fans are already wondering if its better than Yellowstone. I won’t go that far quite yet, but it’s definitely exceeding all expectations. And I think that’s primarily because it just feels like early Yellowstone did. It’s believable, it feels familiar but exciting at the same time, the new characters are compelling and Carter’s character arc is intriguing as well.
And according to one intriguing fan theory, it just might be calling back to an interesting bit of information from the flagship series.
It’s no secret that there is some kind of cartel-influence on the 10 Petal Ranch… we see 10 Petal empress Beulah Jackson (Annette Bening) get real nervous about Beth Dutton “knowing what they’re doing.” And then the real kicker is the phone call with someone named Mariano who seems to threaten her about cattle production and potential mishaps. The voice on the phone is listed as “Mariano Reyes” in the cast list, which is the same name as her adopted son, Joaquin Reyes (Juan Pablo Raba), so the potential cartel activity seems likely.
Finally, McKinney talks about cattle from Mexico once the Dutton Ranch herd gets tainted (there was clearly some nefarious activity with how the Duttons got that bull), so Mexico is certainly top of mind in the show. We also know the ranch is relatively close to the border. Taylor Sheridan is certainly no stranger to cartel storylines… Landman, Sicario, Marshals, Lioness… basically everything he does, so I think we’re definitely looking at some kind of 10 Petal connection to Mexican cartels.
But that’s fairly obvious and already assumed to a certain extent… where the interesting conspiracy theory comes into play is if Walker from Yellowstone (Ryan Bingham), used to work at the 10 Petal. In Season 2, we had a new ranch hand simply named “Cowboy” sit down for a chat with, Walker, and during the conversation, Walker reveals that he used to work at a crazy ranch near the border and how the Yellowstone didn’t feel much different. In so many words, he tells Cowboy to run from the Duttons, and says:
“This ranch ain’t like no place you ever worked, you might want to think about making a U-turn… No. This one’s different. Reminds me of that place down on the border. F****n’ drug-runners, militia, and all that s***.”
And we know that Rip says in the first episode of Dutton Ranch that he heard about some land down in Texas from Walker… so did Walker used to work for the 10 Petal Ranch? Was all of this foreshadowed (of course, unintentionally, but still) back in Yellowstone Season 2? And if he didn’t work for the 10 Petal, this would assume that he at least knew about it, or cartel involvement was pretty common around the Texas border ranches.
It’s a pretty cool theory and one that would make a lot of sense… I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
Here’s the clip where Walker references working down by the border:
